1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for regenerating a desiccant of a hard disk drive.
2. Background Information
Hard disk drives have a housing that encloses the various components of the drive. The housing provides protection from handling and various environmental factors. The housing typically has a seal to prevent contaminants from flowing into the drive. It is difficult to completely seal a disk drive. Consequently, air flows into the drive under certain ambient conditions. This flow of air may introduce humidity within the drive. Additionally, humidity may form inside the housing with a reduction in ambient temperature.
Some of the drive components are sensitive to humidity. A increase in humidity within the housing may degrade the performance of the drive. To compensate for humidity some drives include a desiccant located next to a breather hole in the housing. The breather hole allows a flow of air into the drive. The desiccant absorbs any humidity with the air flow. Additionally, the desiccant can absorb humidity that forms within the disk drive. The desiccant can become saturated with fluid. Once saturated the desiccant is unable to absorb additional humidity. It would be desirable to regenerate the desiccant so that it can continuously absorb moisture.